Plate tectonics

Jan Kees Blom

November 2011


NASA
Structural Geology
What is the origin of the structures we observe in rocks
around the world?
What causes seafloors to be turned into mountain ranges?
What causes high pressure and temperature rocks, formed
at great depth, to appear sometimes at the surface?

The answer to these
questions is
Plate Tectonics.
Long ago....
Already in 1596, the Dutch cartographer Cornelis Ortelius
noted that the coastlines of Latin America and Africa
matched very well.
In his Thesaurus Geographicus he suggests that the
continents were torn apart bij earthquakes and floods, but
his ideas didnt convince anybody

until the early
20th century
Continental drift
In 1915, the German geologist
and meteorologist Alfred
Wegener suggested that all
continents were joined during the
Permian
Supercontinent Pangea drifts
apart ever since the Permian
He called his theory Continental
Drift
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Continental Drift 2
Continents match at continental
margin
Wegener also looked at:
geological structure
sedimentology
and...
Continental drift 3
...fossils, like Mesosaurus and Lystrosaurus
If they could swim that far, why not found anywhere else?
=> continents were joined.
Continental Drift 4
Alternatives for fossil evidence:
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Continental Drift 5
Wegener, a meteorologist, also looked at climatic
evidence
He found tropical coal deposits in arctic regions and
evidence for glacial activity in warm areas =>
Either the climatic zones had changed or the
continents had moved
Arctic coal company, Svalbard, (ca 1920)
Permian glacial striations, South Africa
No Continental
Drift
Theory published in 1915
Very negative reactions
(esp. from UK/US)
No good explanation for
moving plates
Wegener died in
Greenland (1930) =>
theory in hibernation...
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From: Structural Geology (1956) by L.U. de Sitter
Or...?
Cold war => world wide
net of seismometers to
detect nuclear explosions
Also observed
earthquakes
strange pattern...
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Earthquakes 1994-1999
U
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Why were earthquakes concentrated in this way?
Earth structure
Oceanic crust about 5 km thick,
Continental crust on average 25
km
solid upper mantle (ca 100km)
viscous astenosphere (100-
200km)
solid lower mantle
fluid outer core (Fe, Ni)
solid inner core (Fe, Ni)
Lithosphere = crust + solid
upper part of mantle
Mid Oceanic Ridges
Harry Hess: geologist and
marine captain.
Captained USS Cape Johnson
during WWII & mapped
seafloor wherever he went.
Cold war: detailed seafloor
maps for nuclear subs
Global system of Mid Oceanic
Ridges
Lots of volcanism and
earthquakes along ridges

Sea floor spreading
Harry Hess 1960: new theory:
oceanic crust formed at volcanic MOR, astenoshere gliding surface

Paleomagnetics
Proof for seafloor
spreading through
paleomagnetism.

Magnetic minerals align
along earths magnetic
field during deposition or
in solidifying



Reorientation when
Curie temperature is
reached
Nieuwenhuijs (1997)
Paleomagnetics 2
Cold war: Look for nuclear subs by
looking at magnetic field
Variations in (paleo)magnetism of
ocean floor
Could be related to known changes
of Earths magnetic field
=> indication of age of ocean
floor?
symmetric pattern

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Paleomagnetism 3
Reversals well
known
stripes indication
of age =>
New rock was
being made at the
ridges!
Ages
ODP: Contrasting ages for continents and ocean floor
And the old stuff?
New crust at oceanic ridges, nothing older than 200 Ma =>
Where does old oceanic crust go?
Look at earthquakes:
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Subduction
trace of deep earth quakes and trenches along volcanic island arches
led to the idea of subduction
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Plates
Plate tectonics
Tuzo Wilson (plates), Jason Morgan (first 12 plates) and Xavier Le
Pichon (margins and relative movements) synthesized plate tectonics
in mid 1960s
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Plate movement
Plate margins
Three types:
Divergent margins, where plates
drift apart;
Convergent margins, where
plates collide and move across
each other;
Transform margins, where the
plates move past each other;
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Divergent margins
Plates move away from each
other: extension
first uplift and volcanism
rift valley
rift sea
oceanic basin
structures:
normal faults
volcanism
uplift / subsidence
sedimentation
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Divergent margins 2
example:East Africa / Red Sea
Kilimanjaro, a
volcano (top) and
the fault scarp in
Tanzania (below)
Tarbuck & Lutgens (1994)
NASA
Convergent
margins
plates collide: contraction
A: ocean-continent collision
B: ocean-ocean collision
C: continent-continent collision
Structures:
subduction
earthquakes
volcanism
metamorphism
folding
reverse and thrust faults
some strike slip faults
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Convergent
Margins 2

Examples:
thrusts (Glarus Thrust, CH)
folding (Rockies)
volcanism (Merapi,
Indonesia)
Transform
margins
Plates glide along each other
horizontally: strike slip
Large displacements
example: San Andreas,Cal.
Structures:
earthquakes
folds
basin formation
all kinds of faults.
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Transform margins
Plate tectonics, how?
Driving force is
probably convection in
the interior of the
Earth.
Its purpose is the
cooling of the Earth.
Several theories exist
about the way
convection works.
Mantle convection
convection in the entire mantle
(A) or just in the upper part (B)?
sinking of the old, cold and heavy
oceanic plate (slab-pull) (B)?
pushing of the new and warm
oceanic plate (slab-push) (B)?
upward convection only occurs in
small areas (plumes), with
sinking plates as the downward
component (C)?
The jury is still out..
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All the way down
Recent work (McNamara et al,
Nature 416, 2002) seems to
suggest all of the mantle is
involved, with subducted plates
going down into the lower mantle
Mantle convection
Left: cool mantle, right: warm mantle
http://anquetil.colorado.edu/szhong/movies.html
What do I care?
Where am I working?
What kind of rocks and structures can I expect?
Literature
Illustrations from a.o.:
Davis & Reynolds:
Structural Geology of Rocks and Regions, 2nd Edition,
Wiley 1996.
Tarbuck & Lutgens:
Earth Science, 7th edition, Macmillan 1994.
Twiss & Moores:
Structural Geology, Freeman 1992.

Literature 2
Interesting websites:

www.scotese.com
www.platetectonics.com
www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/wegener.html
www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/geology/tectonics.html
volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/vwlessons/plate_tectonics/introduction.
html
www.mines.edu/fs_home/enelson/tectonic.html
pubs.usgs.gov/publications/text/historical.html
www.uky.edu/ArtsSciences/Geology/webdogs/plates/reconstructions.ht
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